Times Herald: New Health Care Plan More Massive
Monday, November 2, 2009
‘New health care plan more massive’
Gerlach: Bill will raise taxes and negatively impact seniors’ coverage
By KEITH PHUCAS
Times Herald Staff
Gerlach, who dumped the 1,900 page bill at the public library the day before Halloween, dubbed the proposed legislation a "scary sequel” to H.R. 3200, which has been hotly debated since the summer.
"And there may be a major amendment to this on Monday,” he said, flipping through the pages of the bound document.
The House member personally delivered the voluminous "Pelosi Bill,” that he named after influential Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to libraries throughout the 6th District.
If approved by Congress in its present incarnation, the massive overhaul package, known in bureaucratic circles as H.R. 3962, would raise taxes on employers in the Philadelphia region, jeopardize existing coverage for seniors and create huge state budget deficits, he said.
The proposal includes a 2.5 percent surtax on the sale of medical devices and would affect local firms Kensey Nash in Exton, Fujirebio Diagnostics in Malvern and Siemens Medical Solutions, among others, taxing everything from bandages to prosthetics.
"They’re going to be taxing wheelchairs,” he said.
Gerlach, who is a Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate, said the health care plan would add $20 billion in new taxes on the medical device industry during the next decade. In Pennsylvania, 32,000 small businesses of all kinds would be hit with higher taxes.
"It’s going to have a huge detrimental effect on jobs,” the House member said.
Also, the new bill would eliminate now nontaxable reimbursements of over-the-counter medications from health savings accounts and a "voluntary” payroll tax to fund long-term care.
Only one congressional Republican, Rep. Olympia Snow of Maine, supported H.R. 3200 proposal; however, Snow has since said she would not support the sweeping health care makeover if it included a public option.
And, the government-run plan exempts members of Congress from enrolling.
There’s widespread bipartisan support for health care reform in Congress, Gerlach said. For example, both Republicans and Democrats support mandating health insurers to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions and similar measures, but Pelosi won’t allow the House to bring these proposals to the House floor for a vote.
He is a proponent of letting people buy affordable health insurance wherever they find, whether in the state or across the country.
"It doesn’t make sense that we don’t try to find any solutions on the private sector side,” he said.
Gerlach said the House could vote on the newly-compiled legislative proposal as early as next Thursday, and he expects House Democratic leaders and other bill proponents will be "cajoling and perhaps threatening” Democratic colleagues reluctant to support the bill.
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